- Reflections of a year gone by and resolutions for a year to come: Part 2
“Celebrate endings—for they precede new beginnings.”
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
“The ending of a year is like closing a window. Even though it is shut, fresh light will still shine through.”
- Unknown
This is the second year in a row that I am penning this review, and my third year in my new careers. (Can I say they are new anymore?). The fact that I am writing this review gives me the confidence that I am doing some things right and am on track with my overall goals. It is also an opportunity for me to reflect with gratitude on the time gone by and take the learnings to a New Year.
Before setting goals for the future, it is always a good idea to reflect on the past with gratitude, pat ourselves on the back for a job well done and sum up the learnings so that we are well-positioned to begin the New Year. We cannot change our past, but we can definitely make sure not to repeat our mistakes.
Besides, if you remember my last review, I had made a pact with you – dear reader – to share my progress, achievements, successes and failures every year before the New Year. I have come good on my promise this year. I hope my learnings inspire you to make 2024 the best year of your life.
2022 was a good year for me. When 2023 started, I was wondering if I would be able to replicate the success. I had prepared for the year by setting my goals for 2022. So the year was about executing my plans.
I am happy to share that by God’s grace, 2023 was an eventful year with a lot of achievements in both of my careers.
My Coaching Journey: Accelerated Growth in 2023
2022 was the year when my coaching practice evolved into a business. 2023 was the year when the business grew by leaps and I had the pleasure and opportunity to make a difference in the lives of many individuals across multiple geographies. I exceeded some goals by margins that I thought would take me years to achieve.
My Executive and Life Coaching Business Goals for 2023
At the beginning of the year, I had set out the following goals for coaching business (listed in order of importance):
Work more deeply with fewer clients without compromising on business revenues—this had led me to increase my rates wef 1st Jan 2023
Get certified as a PCC-accredited coach with the International Coaching Federation
Double the organic traffic on my website so that Google becomes my primary source of clients.
Write 2 pillar blog posts and 5 quality articles during the year – 1 of these articles to be published on Tiny Buddha
Hold at least 5 workshops with corporates and get at least 2 more corporate signups for coaching senior executives than I have at present
Get at least 5 high-quality speaking opportunities during the year
Improve my RoI from LinkedIn posts- Generate at least 20 direct leads from LinkedIn within the year
Double the views and engagement rate from my LinkedIn posts
Improve my business logo and branding
Invest in myself as an executive coach and life coach by completing at least 1 intensive coach training program during the year.
Have at least 100 subscribers to my YouTube channel
Double my newsletter subscribers and leverage email as a revenue generator tool
Conceptualise some passive sources of income for the ‘Empower Yourself’ business
The above resolutions were intended to evolve as a coach and grow as an entrepreneur in my coaching business. I had set separate milestones for myself in my writing career, which I have mentioned in the blog post on my writing site.
The Life of a Life Coach: Behind the Scenes
2023 was beyond my wildest dreams. Since my business had turned profitable in 2022, I was more focused on strengthening the processes to generate sustainable results. That meant doubling down on my efforts
1. Posted 5 days a week each on LinkedIn and Instagram throughout the year
I doubled down on my efforts on LinkedIn given the significant presence of my target segment on this platform. I continued posting 5 days a week on LinkedIn – with the occasional posting on weekends based on events and milestones – and periodically refreshed my LinkedIn posting tools and strategy during the year. The same goes for Instagram.
At the outset of the year, I also changed my business logo and came up with a new branding identity for the Empower Yourself Business. The fresh look and feel go well with the vibe and messaging of the brand.
Image of my refreshed social media branding board
2. Shooting, editing and posting YouTube videos
I doubled down on my YouTube channel, making more than 50 videos during the year, with 1 video going up every week on my channel. Thanks to suggestions and assistance from my VA, the quality of the videos also improved, with the refreshed thumbnail increasing the impressions.
A Video from my YouTube channel
3. Engaged in a writing marathon with numerous blog posts, articles and SEO link-building strategy
I wrote 2 pillar blog posts of 6000+ words each and 94 regular blog posts (through my SEO team). Further, I prepared more than 300 responses to press questions from HARO as part of my SEO backlink strategy.
I also wrote 12 articles on LinkedIn and 9 guest articles on other platforms including Women’s Web. That makes it more than 100 writeups during the year, excluding fiction.
Cover images of some of my articles on LinkedIn and Women's Web
My Grammarly editor shows that I edited more than 11 million words during the year using the software. The final figure for the year is likely to be more since the dashboard hasn't been able to provide the number after Dec 5th owing to some technical reasons.
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My 1.5 years Grammarly word count as of Dec 20, 2022 My 2.5 years Grammarly word count as of Dec 8, 2023
The Grammarly word count above also includes my fiction content, details of which have been provided in my writing blog; output figures from the same have not been included in this section.
4. The half-century of business development calls
I realised last year that nothing gets you more business than speaking to people who may consider your services. Continuing in the same vein, I had business development conversations with more than 500 new people during the year — people I didn’t know and vice-versa. This would mean making more than 1000 phone calls during the year since it takes two or three calls to convert a prospect into a client.
Masked Screenshot of my Lead Follow-up File
I crossed the cumulative count of 1000 unique people conversations towards the end of the year. While the absolute count may look significant, my client conversion ratio also improved with time, meaning I have to make fewer calls to fill my client roster.
5. Refreshed the format of my Coaching Newsletter and continued sending weekly newsletters
I continued with my weekly newsletter, sending out 52 newsletters during the year. I also refreshed the look of my newsletter midway through the year.
Partial Screenshot of my Weekly Empower Yourself Newsletter
Executive and Life Coaching Business Report Card: Progress Vs. Plan
2023 was beyond my wildest dreams. Since my business had turned profitable in 2022, I was more focused on strengthening the processes and enabling sustainable transformations in people rather than on numbers. And realised that strong results are a natural outcome of robust processes.
Here are my achievements and misses against the goals I set for myself in the beginning:
1. My client base and coaching hours increased exponentially despite the increased pricing
I started the year with 486 client coaching hours, and I am ending it at 1187.5 hours. That is more than 700 client coaching hours a year— that is about 2 client coaching hours every day of the year. I started the year without a target of coaching hours, anticipating that I would be able to match last year’s figures, and am ending the year coaching for more than double the hours of the last two years combined.
I am blessed to work with 200+ individual and corporate clients for life and executive coaching requirements combined from 2021 to 2023, including those from 6 countries outside India. That makes it an average of ~6 coaching hours meeting my goal of working more deeply with clients.
Cover image of the blog post that I wrote on the occasion of reaching 1000 coaching sessions
More than the 79 new clients I worked with during the year, it is the growing client satisfaction that gives me more pleasure. The 75+ client testimonials on my website – including one video testimonial from a long-term US based client, working on long-term repeat opportunities with 18 clients, the increase in the number of clients coming through word of mouth and referrals (25% of new clients during the year came through referrals) testify to client’s satisfaction with my services. Grateful to the universe for the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of so many people.
A client's video testimonial of my coaching program A corporate client's testimonial about my coaching on Bark
This was also the year when many coaches approached me to help them coach about setting up/growing a coaching business. I realised then that I had travelled far in my coaching journey in a short span of time.
2. Became an ICF-accredited PCC Coach
It was in May 2022 that I became an ICF-accredited ACC coach. Exactly a year later, in May 2023, I passed the new Coach Knowledge Assessment to become a PCC coach.
The International Coaching Federation is the apex body of coaches in the world, and the certification process is not easy. The PCC badge requires a minimum of 500 client coaching hours as a stipulation and signifies a coach who has undergone rigorous training and is well-qualified to partner with clients to achieve their goals.
In the words of my mentor coach, I demonstrated a ‘fantastic drive to achieve this within a year of earning the ACC credential, which itself had come in quick time. I count this as a huge achievement in my professional self-development journey and feel blessed to set an example for my peers.
My PCC certificate issued by the ICF
3. Diversified my lead generation sources while nurturing my key funnel
Bark continues to be my primary lead generation funnel with 48 new clients coming through the channel. It took me about 470 unique BD conversations to get those 48 clients. I am purposely bringing out the number to put the behind-the-scenes work in perspective. Building a business is hard work. In the process, I crossed the cumulative milestone of getting hired by a century of clients through Bark, making me one of the most successful coaches on their platform. All these clients were onboarded without the customary free discovery sessions that are prevalent in the industry. Further, my expenses in Bark are 20% lower than in the corresponding period last year despite the platform increasing its prices, underlining my decreasing reliance on the platform.
Image of my Bark Coach Profile: 108 people have hired my services in the last 3 years through the platform
This was also the year when I started getting found more and more on Google. 8 of my new clients this year found me on Google making my SEO efforts worthwhile.
My LinkedIn strategy also started to pay dividends, with the platform accounting for 4 clients who found me directly through the platform for the first time. This is in addition to the clients from Bark, who make it a point before visiting my LinkedIn profile to make their decision.
While I haven’t achieved the goal of Google being my primary source of client lead generation, I know I am getting there with the number of email subscribers through lead magnets having doubled from last year and website traffic growing by 15-20% over the previous year for every month of the year.
Some of the companies where my coaching clients work
4. Held 10 workshops and speaking sessions with corporates during the year
I had the opportunity to strengthen my relationships with corporates by holding multiple workshops on varied subjects for young professionals, first-time team leads and senior managers alike on varied subjects like Setting Goals and Achieving them, Leading Teams More Effectively, Communication and Confidence and Effective Team Delegation and Empowerment. The engagement and positive feedback from these workshops motivate me to go for more this year.
One of the corporate webinars I held during the year
I, however, fell short of my goal of a long-term association with 2 new corporate clients during the year. This is not for want of opportunities; however, the promising leads couldn’t translate into something concrete. What gives me satisfaction is deepening my association with existing corporate clients with whom I have been associated for more than a year at a stretch.
Excellent service delivery speaks for itself and leads to more business with swifter lead times.
5. Became a TEDx speaker for the second time and shared my journey and views across multiple panels, forums and platforms
I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to become a TEDx speaker for the second time. Like the first time, this time I also set about going about it intently, but the process and lead time were much shorter given that I had been on the TEDx stage once before. The experience of standing on the red dot again felt more familiar this time – it really did become easier after the first time.
Video of My TEDx Talk given in November 2023
I also got the opportunity to be a panellist at the World SME business summit and shared my views on ‘How to Speak with Confidence and Make an Impact' in a discussion with the co-founder of Women’s Web on the Women’s Web Facebook page. The latter video garnered more than 10k cumulative views.
A Panel discussion I was a part of Sharing my insights with Women's Web
This was also the year when I spoke about my coaching journey to a wider audience. I was a guest speaker in Ashutosh Garg’s leading podcast ‘The Brand Called You’ and also appeared in HT Media’s YouTube channel show ‘Newsmakers’. Besides my journey and insights on executive coaching and life coaching, I also spoke about my 3 books on these shows.
Appearances in The Brand Called You Podcast and HT Media YouTube's channel Newsmakers Talk Show
I also ventured out of my comfort zone and took strides to become a thought leader in the coaching industry by holding a webinar on ‘How to Get a Full Client Roster’ for coaches looking to fill up their roster and establish their coaching business. Despite the unexpected tech challenges, I faced during the time, the webinar was a success with 30 aspiring coaches from India, US and Canada attending the one and a half hour session. It was a bonus to get a couple of signups after the webinar – something that I hadn’t intended.
Screenshot of the webinar I held for coaches to grow their business
6. My Writing Marathon and SEO focus paid dividends with my blog posts in the Top 5 of Google search results
I consistently appeared on Page 1 of Google for some blog posts throughout the year.
Screenshot of Google Search Console Overview of My Coaching Website
I have mentioned the details of my writing efforts earlier. My goal of publishing an article on Tiny Buddha though remains pending for the reason that I didn’t try submitting any of my articles to them – the thought had simply skipped my mind.
Is every goal we set for ourselves important? That's the question I put to myself this year. Not necessarily, was the answer I got.
7. Garnered Awards, Accolades and Recognition on the way
I felt extremely fortunate when Silicon India named me among the ‘Top 10 Emerging Executive Coaches in India, 2023.’ Then in October, the World Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (WASME) and the MSME Ministry, Government of India awarded me the ‘Best Executive Coach for Professionals and CXOs’ in India.
Both these honours were beyond my wildest dreams and stand as a testament to the transformation I am making in the lives of the people I coach. These honours also increase my sense of responsibility, and I am even more cognizant of giving my best to clients as a coach.
Recognition of excellence in Executive Coaching by MSME Ministry, Govt. of India and Silicon India Magazine
8. Recognized for my entrepreneurial strides as my business grew
The financial performance of the ‘Empower Yourself’ Coaching business in 2023 exceeded the targets I had set for it and was even more impressive than in 2022. As my coaching roster grew, the time at my disposal for non-core activities was reduced.
I expanded the scope of outsourced activities, and hired the services of a Virtual Assistant from the middle of 2023. This was in addition to the SEO team that I had onboarded in the last quarter of 2022. While the support of these teams is on an ongoing retainership basis, I also work with a PR team for some high-impact media opportunities.
This was also a year where my entrepreneurial efforts were recognized, with HerKey (formerlyJobsforHer) naming me among India’s Top 10 Women Entrepreneurs in India in 2023.
Named among the Top 10 Women Entrepreneurs in India by HerKey (formerly jobsforher)
Being a coach cum entrepreneur feels surreal and comes with weightier responsibilities. I am aware what got me here can’t keep me here and have to try new things to build momentum.
9. 4 TV Appearances, 2 Print Media Features, 1 article in leading Print Daily and quoted extensively on publications and portals around the globe
This was the year when I came on TV – not once but 4 times! I appeared as a speaker on panels on Mental Health, Reading and Loneliness on CNBC Awaaz and Work-life balance on Zee Business. I was also quoted in the ABP News Article on Mind-Body Connection and my articles/views have been featured in 25 publications and portals around the globe, including MSN, Hive, SkillsSuccess, Careers Now, HerForward, etc.
Some of my TV appearances during the year
This was also the year when I graced the cover of a magazine for the first time. Silicon India featured me in the cover story of their special edition on executive coaches in March 2023 while India Today named me among the Top 8 Emerging Indian Achievers.
My appearance on the cover of Silicon India Named among the Top 8 Emerging Indian Achievers by India Today
My article How to AI-proof your career in the ChatGPT era was also published in India’s leading daily the Times of India. I was also interviewed by the global magazine The Valiant CEO for my achievements in my dual careers.
My article in the Times of India
All the media exposure – which I didn’t set out for at the year beginning – has helped me to gain wider exposure and enhance my brand amongst the target audience.
10. Focus on LinkedIn and Newsletter yielded results while YouTube and Instagram didn't
The engagement and impressions on my posts have increased manifold over the last year. For the first time this year, I also had people reaching out to me for coaching and speaking opportunities directly on LinkedIn, underlining that my strategy is working. Of the 10 leads I got from LinkedIn, 5 of them converted into engagements.
Screenshot of my most viewed LinkedIn posts during the year
The improved quality of video and increased impressions on LinkedIn did not translate into significant subscriber traction or views of my YouTube channel with the subscriber count increasing by 31 to reach 75 during the year against my target of 100.
While I will continue to do videos, I have decided to deprioritize YouTube for my strategy. The same goes for Instagram where I have got minimal traction as a coach.
That’s what an entrepreneurial journey looks like – you will pass through many failures to achieve success and need to fail fast and move on.
Continuous subscriber engagement does pay dividends with many people from the email list approaching me at some stage for a coaching engagement.. My email subscribers, open rates and click rates have gone up steadily, with the subscriber count very close to 1000. Against my goal of utilizing email as a monetization tool, I continued to use it largely as an engagement tool during the year, mostly because the business was exceeding its revenue targets.
11. Invested in my continuous coaching development and upskilled myself as an entrepreneur
As a coach, I emphasise upskilling and making investments in professional and personal development for my clients. I walk the talk as a professional here.
It was an important goal for me to take up certifications and courses to enhance my coaching knowledge and also to upskill myself on my business development funnels like SEO, blogging and ChatGPT.
I am glad to have completed 3 new coaching certification programs during the year with 4 more in the pipeline for 2024. I also invested in on-site and off-site courses on SEO, ChatGPT, Blogging and courses on other entrepreneurial aspects during the year.
One of the certifications I completed in the year
12. Failed to explore significant passive income sources for Empower Yourself while the attempt to start a membership forum failed.
While I was able to generate some passive income from a couple of blogs I had written, that was more by serendipity rather than some concerted effort on my part. While my business is doing well, it is currently dependent on a single person for generating income – me. As an entrepreneur, that is too big a risk to take.
I didn’t venture out to create courses during the year, something I need to attempt to diversify the business income. My sincere experiment to create an exclusive membership community of people that I have coached to provide a wholesome experience was a failure when the venture failed to find enough takers. The sign-ups that I got were fewer than the numbers I needed to deliver the experience I had envisaged. The understanding I received from the people who had signed up for the program made me aware of the goodwill I enjoy as a coach — I am truly blessed in this regard.
An attempt that didn't work: The Empower Yourself Membership Forum
While this was another of my inevitable ‘fail-fast’ attempts as an entrepreneur, in retrospect I know where I went wrong. I am sure I will be able to leverage the learnings at some stage in the coming year.
Executive and Life Coaching Business Goals for 2024
What can I do differently in 2024? How can I grow as a Personal Empowerment Life Coach and an Executive Coach?
As I reflect on my learnings during the year, these are the primary thoughts driving me to make my goals and share them with you.
1. Make a deeper impact in the lives of clients I work with. I will be more selective and will work with clients who are ‘coachable.’ This will entail an adjustment in my professional charges for 2024.
2. Focus on 3 key channels for Business Development Efforts – SEO, LinkedIn and Bark. Video strategy would be re-pivoted towards LinkedIn rather than YouTube.
3. Double down on brand-building efforts to reach out to your target audience in a cluttered market. Target 5 high-impact stage/print/electronic appearances during the year
4. Set up 1 passive income stream for Empower Yourself Business by the end of the year
5. Increase the number of clients from countries outside India, and institute a separate professional fee tier for international clients
6. Enhance the coaching experience for clients – add incremental offerings and touchpoints to the core proposition
7. Take out the time to experiment in coaching business – continue to accumulate more ‘fail-fasts’ to grow the business
Executive and Life Coaching … The Last Word for 2023
I am blessed to make a direct impact on the lives and careers of people through the work I do. I am committed to authentic and transformational coaching, and promise that as an entrepreneur, I will always choose people over money. I am grateful to all who have been with me on this momentous journey.
My Second Career: Journey as a Writer
2023 has been an equally eventful year in my writing career with the publication of my third book and some significant writing accolades. I have penned the blog post in a similar format at my coaching website here if you wish to go and read the same.
A Special Day: Launch Event of my third fiction book
My Personal Round-Off for 2023
Last year was the first time I set some personal goals for myself so that I don’t lose sight of personal priorities during the quest for work. Having those goals helped.
My personal goals for 2023, and the progress under them are:
1. Travel at least twice with family during the year— 1 domestic vacation and 1 international vacation: I travelled on one domestic vacation, but the international vacation couldn’t materialize due to scheduling challenges. Not that I regret it, but here’s one more reason to look forward to 2024. I also travelled to my home town twice during the year, much to the pleasant surprise of my mother.
2. Make 1 solo trip: I made three 😊 Though all of them were for work purposes, I enjoyed them.
3. Give more time to family- block at least 3 hours every day for quality family time: Honestly, had forgotten all about this goal till I revisited it while writing this blog post. I know I have failed on this front, and this goal gets carried over.
4. Pay attention to health- Start doing some physical activity for at least 30 minutes every day before ramping it up to 1 hour: It was only in September that I started with the physical activity and am doing some exercise for 20 minutes daily. I will be more realistic here and set myself the target of half an hour of daily exercise.
5. Start maintaining a daily gratitude journal and end the day by noting the things I am grateful for: While I believe and have witnessed the power of this technique in the past, this is again a goal that I had completely forgotten about.
The above scorecard undoubtedly shows that I attach more significance to my professional than personal goals – something that I will look to make amends for during the year. Thank you to my husband and daughter for bearing with me. I don’t take my family for granted – it is time for me to demonstrate my belief through my actions.
The pleasures of travelling and being with the family: Glimpses
Personal goals for 2024
Here are my personal goals for the coming year:
1. Travel a lot more during the year – solo, joint, vacations and otherwise. I don’t want to put a number but definitely want to experience more of this beautiful world
2. Spend quality time of 3 hours every day with family – hoping for a better score on the front this year
3. Spend at least half an hour daily on some physical activity
4. Declutter my surroundings – simplify my life and do away with the redundant objects at work and home
5. Start maintaining a gratitude journal and write something in it every day – again hoping for a better score on this front.
The Last Word…I manifested the best professional year of my life, again
2022 was a good year for me. 2023 was even better. There were no shortcuts here; the results and accomplishments came by dint of hard work. Like last year, I continue to use manifestation as a tool to achieve my professional milestones.
Destiny is a choice.
2023 was the best professional year of my life. At the same time last year, I said the same thing about 2022. And I am sticking my neck out in pronouncing the same for 2024.
2024 will be the best professional year of my life. I will manifest the year I want for myself.
Do you want to make 2024 the best year of your life? Read my tips for the same here.
Need my help to make 2024 the best year of your life? Book a strategy session with me, and let us see what we can do together.
Smita D Jain is a Certified Life Coach, Executive Coach and NLP Practitioner. Smita’s ‘Empower Yourself’ Personal Clarity Coaching Programs enable busy professionals unhappy in their jobs to tap into their passions and transform them into professions so that they work because they want to, not because they have to. 'Empower Yourself’ Executive Performance Enhancement Coaching Programs enable mid-career and senior executives to speak with confidence and communicate with impact so that they emerge as leaders sooner than envisaged.
Prior to her journey as a coach, Smita had extensive experience of 14 years as a corporate and business strategy professional with Fortune 500 companies. She is also a TEDx speaker, a speaker at various public forums, a published writer, and an Amazon bestselling author.
You can learn more about Personal Empowerment Life Coach and Executive Coach Smita D Jain’s ‘Empower Yourself’ Coaching Programs by visiting www.lifecoachsmitadjain.com and book a strategy session at https://www.lifecoachsmitadjain.com/booking. You can know more about her writings at https://www.smitaswritepen.com/
Great retrospection on both personal and professional front.